Magic: The Gathering World Championship

Magic: The Gathering World Championship

The Magic: The Gathering World Championships (Worlds) have been held annually between 1994 and 2011. It was the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering, offering cash prizes of up to $45,000 to the winners. With the exception of the first edition, Worlds was an invitation-only event and the last Pro Tour of each season. The invitees were mostly top finishers from the National championships, the top-ranked players of the DCI and high-level pro players.

After the first five World Championships were all held in the United States, Worlds were held in various places outside the US, most of which were either in Europe or Japan. Besides the main event Worlds were always a huge gathering of Magic players, who come to watch the pros and compete in side events.

At the end of the 2011 season it was announced by Wizards of the Coast that they intended to restructure their Magic: The Gathering organized play program. Part of this restructurization was the discontinuation of Worlds and the Pro Player of the Year title. A sixteen player invitational tournament, called the Magic Players Championship, is intended to replace both in the future. Later and in part due to heavy demand by the players it was decided that the team portion of the Worlds was too important to be abandoned. Instead a new team competition, the World Magic Cup was established.